Hey everyone,So I recently got this rusty as all hell vise from the scrap pile where I volunteer. I believe it to be a Columbian vise with all of its labeling worn off. It needs a new handle, new padding on the jaws, and frankly it could use sand blasting or electrolysis. Would anyone on Lumberjocks be willing to help me with this? I live in southeastern WI but I am willing to ship to anyone willing to help.

-- Benjamin, Milwaukee

9 replies so far

AFAIK, Columbian vices had the name cast into the body (mine certainly does), so it would be hard to get worn off :)

What exactly do you need in the way of help? Electrolysis is easy and cheap, or you could go get a gallon of evaporust which is a little bit more money, but a lot less messy. New jaws can be found online depending on what vice you have, and there are lots of ways to make a handle depending on how ‘original’ you want to go with it… Got any pictures?

Is it an underbench woodworking vise or a machinist vise that mounts onto a bench? There wouldn’t have been any paper labels on that sort of stuff, it would have just been cast in.

Get some soft wire wheels for your drill or grinder and have at it. Electrolysis is a huge to do in my opinion. Can do most any rust removal you need with some cheap wheels. Handle is probably just some doweling and turned balls on the ends to keep it on.

It is an underbench vise. I have been doing some wire wheeling but there is some pitting and the lugs on the end of the rods are rusted shut. My camera is MIA right now at a friends house. Here is a pic from Ebay of what it is.

I can blast it for you, and if you want to pay for shipping 2-ways, will be glad to. But, I don’t think that’s necessary at all. I would use a wire brush in a drill press or on a bench or angle grinder and remove all the rust and paint (if you want to repaint). Then, if you think the rust is bad enough, give it a bath in evaporust or use some naval jelly or phosphoric acid before repainting.

If you don’t intend to repaint, just skip right to the rust treatment.

I imagine the cost of some evaporust and a wire brush will be less than the shipping cost.

If you decide you really do need it blasted though, just PM me and we’ll set it up.